USA Cycling Names Full Olympic Mountain Bike Team
Team USA's mountain bike roster includes three spots for women and one for men
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USA Cycling named the full roster of athletes who will represent the United States in mountain biking at the Tokyo Olympics next month. USA Cycling met the maximum athlete quota set by the UCI, which results in three spots on the women’s squad and one on the men’s. Chloe Woodruff nabbed the final spot on the women’s team, and will join Kate Courtney, who secured her spot with her 5th-place finish at the 2019 World Championships, and Haley Batten, who earned her nomination with a second-place finish at the Nove Mesto World Cup last month.
Batten, who left the U23 ranks early to jump to Elites, earned her bid to Tokyo following an incredible start to the World Cup season, including the aforementioned second-place in Nove Mesto in XCO, which she preceded with a win in Short Track and a third-place in XC the weekend before at the World Cup opener in Albstadt, Germany.
Although Courtney has known her nomination was secure for nearly two years now, due to the COVID-19-related delay of Tokyo 2020, today’s official announcement confirms her longtime goal of becoming an Olympian, and adds a coveted credential to her already-decorated race career, which includes an Elite World Championship and a World Cup Overall title (Courtney joins us next week to talk discuss her road to the Olympics next week—you can join that conversation here.).
On the men’s side, Specialized racer Christopher Blevins was awarded Team USA’s sole spot. He and Keegan Swenson had both been vying for the spot after being named to the long team.
The 23-year-old Blevins makes his Olympic debut, after a long, versatile race career that started in BMX as a kid and has included a U23 cyclocross nationals win in 2018, multiple XC national titles, a road nationals title at 16 and his biggest result, and second in U23 at XC World Champs in 2019 and 2020.
The women’s long team also included Lea Davison, Erin Huck and Hannah Finchamp. Today’s announcement was heartbreaking for Davison, a two-time Olympian who competed at London 2012 and Rio in 2016.
The Tokyo Olympics start in 42 days. The men’s race takes place on July 25 and the women’s on July 26. Here’s today’s full announcement: